Bard's Tale IV - Interview with Brian Fargo @ GMG

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Green Man Gaming and Brian Fargo talking about Kickstarter, immersion, and free-form exploration:

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You guys are Kickstarter veterans now, and great success stories. What's been the key to nailing that balance on the crowdfunding platform?

We certainly have some advantages of being in the games business for so long. Crowdfunding is the ultimate test of trust when people give you their very hard earned money up front and count on you to come through with them. We've also struck a nerve for a certain kind of game/genre that was perhaps underserved and that gamers wanted to see more of. The goodwill we try to foster goes way beyond the Kickstarter campaign.

The Bard's Tale is back! It's a series that introduced many to the RPG genre, what's the plan for this 4th installment?

This kind of RPG was eventually called a "dungeon crawl" and it's one of my favorite types of games. I grew up playing them and I hope to grow old doing so. There is a simplicity to the exploring that draws me in and when combat starts it becomes tactical but not so much like a strategy game. The closest analogy I can use for today's game is Hearthstone in which you make all of your decisions first and then the other side get its attempt to strike back.

You've spoken a lot about immersion being key to The Bard's Tale IV, could you elaborate on that point?

Immersion or suspension of disbelief is the hallmark of good entertainment to me. When a film is great you forget you are in a theater and when a game is great I don't realize I'm looking at a monitor anymore. This feeling comes about when the visuals, audio and interface come together perfectly. I think a dungeon crawl type RPG is perfect in its simplicity of movement, you don't need to fight with the camera and your focus on wholly on the world when exploring. Walking around a mystical torchlight dungeon and listening for audio cues about traps and enemy movement is a grand time to me.

The dungeon-crawling genre is pretty packed these days. How will The Bard's Tale IV stand out from the crowd besides is storied history and series acclaim?

I'm not sure I would consider the genre packed but there is certainly some choice in the category. We have a major focus on what the latest technology can offer making the visuals a key component of the experience. We are making sure to utilize the latest in particle physics, photogrammetry, hair works, fabric modeling etc. to make a game that looks as good as the demos you see from Nvidia or Unreal. A dungeon crawl has some unique aspects to it that allow us to push the hardware. I'm also feeling quite confident that our combat system will be both visceral and deep. And I might add that our musical approach with the Scottish talent and Mark Morgan will give it extra flair. I'm really about making the game.

Can you tell us a little more about The Bard's Tale IV's free-form exploration?

Freedom to go where you want, when you want is a key to RPGs for us and The Bard's Tale IV will be no different. We don't stop you from going where you want, but on the other hand we don't protect you from that choice either. So don't be surprised if an Ogre Brute comes up to you and smooshes your low-level party into the ground. There will also be some puzzles and challenges you can not yet pass at early levels so it won't be free-form in the sense of a Skyrim, but neither will we guide you through linear corridors.

Wasteland 2 was a narrative-heavy, text-stuffed experience - will The Bard's Tale IV be more mechanically focused, and how will that feed into questing and combat systems?

Traditionally the dungeon crawl genre has been focused almost purely on the mechanics side, heavily focused on detailed character systems and challenging combat as well as devious dungeons. We're maintaining a lot of that so yes, the game will be heavily focused on combat and exploration, but we're also believers in telling a great story so the Bard's Tale IV will be more story-heavy than its predecessors, though not as story-heavy as Wasteland 2 or Torment.

In terms of the game's story, will The Bard's Tale IV directly follow on from the previous games? Where do we pick things up in this game?

Yes, The Bard's Tale IV is a direct follow-up. It is one hundred and fifty years after the destruction of Skara Brae, and a new town has been built on top of the old. The practice of magic is a sin and the old races have been banished, and even the Adventurer's Guild closed by the Church of the Sword Father. But adventurers still gather in the dungeons beneath Skara Brae, the old city, seeking to survive in a land that now wants them dead.

Reconciling past and present is often a question raised with longstanding series such as TBT, but as Brian's mentioned in previous interviews, you're playing modern games all the time. Is there almost too much choice in determining how to modernise a game such as this, and how do go about reconciling nostalgic experiences that come with decade-old franchises like this with the need to cater to new players and potential fans?

There are definitely a lot of choices but I don't think you can often have too much choice. The important thing is realizing what the core of the experience that people loved was and then unapologetically embracing it. We don't really want to cater to anyone other than the hardcore RPG fans that continue to back us on Kickstarter, and that allows us to craft games that take advantage of modern technology and design ideas without ruining what makes these kind of games great.

What's the most awesome thing about The Bard's Tale IV?

It's a bit too early to say what my favorite part of the game is, you really need to see a game come together to discover what those moments are where you truly struck gold. Personally what I'm most excited about now is getting the combat system in, we have some great ideas to make encounters a real experience both visually and strategically.

Peanut butter or Nutella?

Since my favorite crepe is banana and Nutella.. I must choose Nutella.​